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The following links are what caught my interest so far this morning:
If you've ever wondered what I preach about at Compass Point then you can check out this hilarious video put together by one of our folks. Yes, I did say all of that stuff, though it was taken a little out of context. :-)
What an incredible win that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pulled out today! Rhonde Barber ran two interceptions back for touchdowns, the defense was cranked up and Matt Bryant kicked a 62 yard field goal to win the game in the last few seconds! It was the second longest field goal in NFL history. It wasn't a pretty win, but it was a win!
Needless to say, I got a little loud watching it on television today. I should have been at the game, but my sorry friend David Covey used his four free tickets to take his wife and parents o see the Bucs. I guess I'll let him off the hook since he helped me move a bunch of water last weekend for Compass Point's servant outreach. :-)
Here are some links that peaked my interest for Friday, October 20, 2006:
The Cardinals and the Tigers are heading to the World Series. Since the Tigers spend Spring Training here in Lakeland, you know who I'll be pulling for. Normally I'm a Braves man, but I'll make an exception this year. :-)
It reminds me of that old children's song, "I went to the animal fair, the birds and the beasts were there . . ."
I'm a Southern Baptist. I have been since I was a small child. Yet, in recent months I have been seriously considering leaving the SBC over mindless crap like this. All this bickering among ourselves and petty, childish behavior like Paige Patterson's just makes all Southern Baptists look like a**holes!!!
I recently discovered Google Alerts and have fallen in love with them. Here are few links that peaked my interest today:
This morning, Newsweek Online features an interesting interview by scholar Diana Butler Bass entitled "Thawing The Frozen Chosen". While I may not like some of her liberal leanings, I do think she is right on base with her conclusions about the future of mainline, missional churches.
I shot this picture the other night in downtown Lakeland. To see other photos I've taken, please check out my Flickr page by clicking here.
We recently started a positive concert ministry here in Lakeland called Outisde The Box. One of the inspirations for it was Mars Hill's "Paradox" concert outreach in Seattle.
Over the last year we took a close look at "Paradox" and other church concert ministries in preparation for Outisde The Box. The more we researched "Paradox", the more we liked the idea of sponsoring concerts by both Christian and secular bands in a non-smoking, non-alcoholic, all-ages environment. The only concern we had was that Mars Hill seemed to have little or no influence on how "Paradox" was being run.
Now it seems that Mars Hill has corrected that issue by taking back over the leadership of "Paradox". Apparently they are getting slammed in the local press for it. It amazes me that a church that does so much for the Seattle community gets such crap heaped on them from the local press. I guess it goes back to the old saying, "Bad press it better than no press". Still it seems that lately Mars Hill is getting slammed on a regular basis for some pretty unfair reasons.
I love the way comedian Jim Breuer talks about metal and hard rock groups in his act. I finally found one of my favorite bits by him on YouTube where he does AC/DC doing the "Hokey Pokey". It's a riot!!! His impression of Brian Johnson and Angus Young are dead on! When he says,"Eww, this looks like a "Hokey Pokey" crowd!" I can't catch my breath.
I know this may shock some readers of my blog, but I do listen to quite a diverse selection of music each day. While I lean more towards classic rock and blues, I love great music - any great music.
When I was growing up my Dad exposed me to many styles of music. Everything from The Doobie Brothers to Don Williams to Jerry Lee Lewis to KISS to Herb Alpert to Muddy Waters and even classical.
Many times each week - especially when I'm needing to calm my ADD - I listen to classical. While I like the classics - Bach, Beethoven, Gershwin, Chopin, Mozart, etc. - it is the power of Mussorgsky that I love the most. I think if he were alive today that he'd give Metallica and Motorhead a run for their money.
I also love the conducting of Leonard Bernstein. He had an incredible ear and perfect pitch. Stories about the detail of which he would listen and the things he'd hear while conducting an orchestra are legendary. He was quite extraordinary!
This particular recording is my all time favorite classical album. It combines the power of Mussorgsky with the perfection of Berstein. Also, the New York Philharmonic has got some serious game! Quite simply it is as close to flawless as classical music can get.
Since television sucks tonight I will kick back, listen to some Mussorgsky, blog a little and just relax! All in all, it's been a pretty laid-back day.
Two meltdowns in a three-day period. Between the Miami Hurricane's brawl and the Arizona Cardinals press conference it was quite a weekend of football. Coach Coker and Coach Green should hang onto their paychecks because I don't think they'll be getting anymore after this season is over! At least not in Florida or Arizona!
Last night was the final show at the legendary New York club CBGBs before it closes for good on October 31st. Fittingly, it was punk pioneer Patti Smith that was the final, featured performer to grace the hallowed stage. Honestly, it was the only good reason to go to New York. Well, that and the muggings! :-)
I realize the need to be contextual when it comes to preaching . . . well, to a point. To clarify, I believe it's important to present the ageless truths of the Word in a form that can be applicable today. However, I am wrestling greatly with the need for the entire worship service to be contextual.
Maybe it's just me, or just Compass Point or the fact that I may not totally understand the term 'contextual', but I'm not sure it's really that important. I mean if an unchurched person shows up at a church my assumption is they are looking for something the world is not providing. So why try so hard to be more culturally relevant with the way we worship or conduct church services? I'm finding in our young, unchurched Compass Point folks that culture is leaving them hanging and they are hungering for something more. Thus they come to church.
In talking with some of our artsy-fartsy, 20-somethings, they liken it to the geek in high school that tries too hard to hang with the cool kids. A church trying too hard to be culturally relevant and contextual just looks . . . well, cheesy. The younger generation seems to have a well-tuned BS detector and apparently red warning lights are going off at churches all over the place.
One of guys that recently came to Compass Point has never really attended a church on a regular basis. He plays in a local band and most Saturday nights he's headlining in one of the Lakeland clubs. Yet, every Sunday morning there he is sitting in the service taking notes. I asked him why? He said we didn't try to be cool.
I'm not sure what that means. I'm not even sure I like hearing that. However, he told me about a church he visited a year ago in Ohio while he was on tour. He talked about how fake they were while trying to look cool. I asked him to pinpoint the fake part. He described how a praise band full of middle-aged white guys that look liked the Best Buy Geek Squad was playing Green Day's "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" during the service for no apprent reason. He talked about how the preacher really reached to work the song into his sermon as a form of an illustration. All this was done in the name of being relevant. It made them seem unrelevant to everyone but normal church folks and the staff.
I guess what I wrestle with is that maybe we . . . I . . . should not worry so much about keeping up with culture. Maybe being contextual has become the "end all and be all" of Sunday mornings, when just presenting the Gospel and worshipping God with abandon is good enough? Maybe the idea is to let the church be the church and the world be the world? I wrestle with the fact that maybe Compass Point should be such a contrast to the world that world wakes up and takes notice. Maybe the idea is not to create an environment that appeals to the consumerism, culturally-relevant, sitcom-driven, top-40 music playing, apathetic masses? Maybe we should just be the opposite?
My prayers have been answered after all these years. Apparently one of the "greatest" bands to ever grace the stage is getting back together after twenty years. Wham! will reunite for a one-off Christmas concert. Be still my heart! :-)
Kudos to the freezing folks in Alaska. They told that idiot from Venezuela to shove it! If only the folks in Harlem had done the same thing last month!
Last night at her Madison Square Garden performance in New York, Barbra Streisand told a heckling member of the audience to "shut the @#&% up!" Apparently he was greatly bothered by a lengthy bit where she uses a George W. Bush look-a-like onstage to take shots at the President. When asked about it by the press, Streisand noted that "the artist's role is to disturb."
First of all, to use the words "Barbra Streisand" and "artist" in the same sentence is a travesty for the English language. Secondly, most of the tickets for her show on this tour are over $100. I can understand the audience member's issue. He came to see a concert, not a political rally.
My suggestion to Barbra . . . if she's going to bash politicians instead of singing in her concerts . . . she is the one that should shut the @#&% up!!!
It's 3:01 AM (as with many church planters, sleep is a luxury that doesn't come easy) and CBS News Overnight is reporting that North Korea tested a nuke a few hours back. Are they just stupid or what? Where do they think this is all going to end?
North Korea, Al Queda, Venezuela, etc. How many fronts can we logistically fight on?
Times are growing more dark. Being a light on a hill is becoming more and more important!
